Rebecca Orpen's portraits of Edward Heneage Dering: Conservation and context

Abstract

The materials and techniques of Rebecca Duldbella Orpen's portraiture of her second husband Edward Dering are examined in the course of conservation treatment of two portraits. The portraits were produced in Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, now National Trust, during the late nineteenth century. The portraits are described in the context of other portraits by Rebecca in the house collection, and are established as key works in a series. The conservation treatment of one of the works, an unfinished study, is informed by technical research, and is guided by a desire to display the work as part of a reconstruction of the artist's studio in the property.

Keywords:

• Rebecca Orpen
• Baddesley Clinton
• Victorian
• amateur
• portraiture
• structural treatment